


Always There

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-15 00:45:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14780441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Aaron had a heart, despite the rumors to the contrary. And he didn’t actually hate her, no matter how much she irritated the ever-loving shit out of him. It was just…If a boat was sinking and he could only save one person, there was a fifty-fifty chance it might not be her. No matter how many years he’d known her. Or perhaps because of them.





	Always There

Dale Jacobs was, for a lack of a better description, a boil on the ass of anyone who had the displeasure of working with him. Hotch figured his brown-nosing ways and penchant for claiming credit for the efforts of others was how he’d managed to become unit chief of the cyber crimes unit. He knew for a fact the man had something to do with why Garcia flat out refused to ever help the CCU with cases; though the closest he’d ever gotten to an explanation was vague references to ‘ _the incident_ ’.

Striding purposefully through the seventh-floor hallway, Hotch frowned at the sound of Jacobs’ high-pitched voice coming from the front portion of Strauss’ office. Slowing his speed, he hovered Just outside the doorway to listen.

“But it’s not fair that their team gets more money to spend than almost any other team in this building! Their travel expenses alone are insane! Why aren’t they forced to double up? Do they really have to all travel?”

Aaron pictured the ruddy look to the small, round man’s face, the way he began to sweat when he got worked up over something.

“Agent Jacobs.” Strauss’ voice was terse. “For a start, the BAU does not have the biggest budget, despite having higher travel costs that many of the other units. Your team, for instance, is rarely required in the field and when they are, it’s only a single agent or two at the most.” Hotch heard her sigh. “You simply don’t have the same kind of case turn-over they do.”

“I could! I could if I had their analyst where she belonged! She doesn’t belong to him!”

“Analyst Garcia doesn’t belong to you either.”

“But she’s an analyst! Every other department get an analyst from the roster!”

“The deal that was made when she was hired was very specific as to where her skills would be used.”

“I want more money in my budget and I want to stop being denied one of _my_ analysts! Don’t think I don’t know how to make that happen. I still have that file.”

There was a sharp inhale of breath and Aaron chose that moment to step into the doorway. “Analyst Garcia had a very good attorney looking out for her interests. Unless you address it legally and with her attorney present, there is nothing you can do to change that.” When Agent Jacobs turned his way, Hotch stepped closer. Uncomfortably close given their roughly six-inch height difference. It made the annoying man have to crane his neck to see his face. “I’m sorry to have interrupted.” He turned to Strauss. “Or were you done with this meeting?”

She nodded. “Agent Jacobs was just letting himself out.” The pair watched the little man head for the doorway.

“Sure, shove me aside to spend time with your precious BAU.” He slunk away.

Hotch turned back, watching Strauss sag and head for her desk. After a beat, he followed, pulling closed the door that separated the inner and outer offices. Not saying a word, he carefully took in the room and the way his boss seemed to almost wilt in her chair. Hotch know Strauss was big on presentation, on show, and she never let anyone see her in a moment of weakness, so seeing her now was alarming.

Considering his words, he finally spoke. “Is everything okay?”

Despite how softly he’d spoken, Strauss startled visibly. As if she’d forgotten already that he was there. “Oh, no. I’m fine. Was there something you needed?”

Aaron frowned. “It can wait.” He weighed his options. He never willingly sat when in her office, never wanted to give her that small pleasure of him taking the submissive role. But he wondered if it would get her to open up, so he took a seat, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. From this position, when he tipped his head to the side and glanced her way, he was now looking up at her.

Strauss was absently chewing her lip until she realized the man across from her was studying her. “Don’t profile me, Aaron.”

He didn’t respond.

“Dave used to do that to me and it irritated the shit out of me. He’d get that tone to his voice, like he was somehow better because he could work out how I was feeling.”

He didn’t even blink.

Her voice dropped to close to a whisper. “If society has come such a long way then why in the hell does it always feel like I have to work six times as hard to prove my worth. And why do men… Why do men like Jacobs get rewarded for their behavior when I would be turned into a pariah.”

“What file was he referring to?”

It was Erin’s turn not to say a word.

Drawing in a deep breath, he leaned forward slightly. “What I witnessed was someone attempting to blackmail you into doing what they want. If you reported him, it would be hard for him to refute with me having seen it.”

“I’m not going to report him.”

“I know we don’t always…” He stopped, deciding to try a different way. “You can tell me anything. It might help.”

Silence stretched out in the office for nearly five minutes before she finally spoke. “A while back. Before I uhh… Before I got help.” Her voice wavered then. “I’d been driving…home. And I was more impaired than I had realized.” She chewed the corner of her lip. “I drove into the back of a car parked on the side of the road. No one was inside, so no one was hurt.” She rushed to add before he could judge her. “At the time I thought I was lucky, someone who recognized me pulled up before anyone around had realized what had happened and they drove me home. By the time the cops tracked me down, too much time had passed and they couldn’t charge me with a DUI, just leaving the scene of the accident. I got a ticket and the officer did something to keep it from affecting my record but…”

Hotch had a feeling. “Agent Jacobs picked you up?”

She hesitated a moment before nodding.

“Does Bruce know?”

“No.” Erin placed her open hands firmly flat onto the desk surface to steady herself. “And after I got sober I decided it wasn’t worth getting into with him about.”

“What did you tell him about the car?”

“I just brushed it off as something that happened here on base, he didn’t ask any more.” She sat up straighter. “I don’t believe he’s serious about his threat. Once he’s played that card, he loses any control he thinks he has.”

==

Dale was furious. He’d been certain that Strauss would have caved and shifted more of the budget his way, given him more funds to travel around the country when he wanted to. He knew travel would look good in his file when he tried for the next promotion.

He’d been irritated to see the BAU Chief turn up the evening he’d tried to persuade Strauss into it. The Dragon Lady and Agent Stick Up His Ass, the building was full of stories of how the two were always at odds with one another, so Dale had been surprised when the other UC had come to her defense instead of just walking away.

But he was about to have his revenge and it was going to be sweet.

Knocking on the heavy wood front door, he waited for the man to pull it open before he smiled widely. “Mister Strauss, correct? My name is Dale Jacobs and I work with Erin at Quantico.”

Bruce eyed the man warily, but nodded. Outside of David Rossi, very few agents ever stopped by. He could see the man had a thin file in his hand. “What can I do for you?”

“It’s a bit, ah, hectic around the office, but Chief Strauss wanted to be sure this got home to you, so I offered to drop it by on my way to my next stop.” He handed over the file. “She didn’t give me any other details, so I just assumed that you would know what it was.”

Bruce accepted the folder and nodded again. He had no idea what it could be, his wife wasn’t one for being sneaky, but he knew enough about the types of cases she oversaw to not question it in case it was important. “Well, thank you, Agent Jacobs.”

“You’re welcome. Have a nice day.” He smiled wide as he backed away and returned to his car.

Closing the door, Bruce carried the file to his office and sat down before flipping the cover open. Inside were photos of his wife’s car, badly wrecked, and a police report.

==

“Agent Rossi” He answered his desk phone.

“Dave, it’s Bruce Strauss.”

“Oh! Hello, Bruce. What can I do for you today?” He glanced at his calendar, figuring the other man was wanting help planning something.

“I had an agent drop by the house earlier to give me a file they said was from Erin.”

“You did?” Dave frowned. As far as he was aware, there were no pressing cases on their end of the building that would keep Strauss from stepping away for a bit if she needed to. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“Yeah, well…” He sighed. “Before Erin got…help, she said she was in an accident on base”

“Uh huh.”

“This file said it wasn’t on base. This says she hit a car and then fled the scene. There was a charge against her that was tossed out or something. These pictures… did you know about this? Had she been drinking and driving?”

“Look, Bruce, the only person who can give you the answers you want is going to be Erin. I had heard she’d been in an accident, but she never came to me about it.”

“I… I can’t do this. I told her I wouldn’t deal with anymore of the fallout of her drinking. If she pulled something like this, how can I trust anything she says? Maybe she’s not really sober.”

“Bruce…”

“No, Dave. She fled the scene, she lied to police? I just can’t.”

Dave tried to say more but the line disconnected. Movement at the edge of his doorway caught his eye as he sat the handset into its cradle. “Aaron.”

Hotch took measured steps in and sat down. “That sounded…”

“That was Erin’s husband.”

“I didn’t know the two of you were friends. Especially with how close you and Erin used to be.”

Dave narrowed his eyes. “Nothing has ever happened.”

“I know.” He shifted in his seat to get more comfortable. “What did he want?”

“We’re more like…acquaintances. Anyway. Someone took him proof about something that she was involved in a number of months ago, something that I didn’t know about. He wasn’t asking me if I knew. I’m not even sure who it was he talked to, just that the person said they were an agent. I don’t even know if the information is real.”

“Was it about a car accident?”

Surprise cross Dave’s face. “What makes you guess that?”

“Something she told me last week. Someone knew she’d been in one and was threatening to use it to blackmail her. She made it clear to me that she wasn’t going to back down and she didn’t believe the person would follow through.”

“Well, it seems they have.”

Aaron nodded. “And she’s about to be blindsided.”

“I’ll head up to her office and catch her before she leaves.”

He was already shaking his head. “I saw her head down in the elevator when Emily left.”

“Crap.”

“Call her?”

Dave pulled out his cell phone and tried to call, but the line was bad and all he could learn was where she was headed first.

As the call disconnected, Aaron stood. “I’ll go. I just have a feeling about this.”

“It seems you know more of the story than I do anyway.” He sat back. “How exactly did you manage that anyway?”

Aaron shrugged. “Wrong place, wrong time I guess.”

==

Erin had told her husband that morning that she would be stopping on the way home and exchanging a dress she’d ordered. What she hadn’t expected was for Bruce to meet her there and be waiting for her in the parking lot.

“Bruce, what a surprise!”

He frowned at her. “Why did you lie about your car?”

“What?”

“You sent me the file! Why now?”

“What file? I didn’t send you any file?”

He held it up. “An Agent Jacobs brought this to me this morning. There’s a police report, photos of your car, everything.”

“I-” She was speechless, she never would have thought Jacobs would actually go through with it.

“I can’t believe you! You said you had it under control! You’ve been lying? And fleeing the scene?” When he moved to the side in a stunted attempt at pacing, Erin got a glimpse of what seemed like a particularly familiar head of hair in the neighboring car’s side mirror.

“I’m so sorry, Bruce! That was before I got sober, I’m a different person now!” She tried to close the space between them but he pulled away. “Please, Bruce.”

“No!” He bit out. “I’ve been more than patient, Erin, but I can’t do this anymore. You’ve lied to police, you fled the scene of an accident that _you_ caused. I told you before, I couldn’t deal with any more fallout of your drinking.”

“No.” Her eyes widened.

Bruce opened the door of his car. “I spent the afternoon on the phone with my attorney, Erin. You’ll be getting divorce papers soon enough.” With that, he closed himself into his car and sped off.

==

Aaron had a heart, despite the rumors to the contrary. And he didn’t _actually_ hate her, no matter how much she irritated the ever-loving shit out of him. It was just…If a boat was sinking and he could only save one person, there was a fifty-fifty chance it might not be her. No matter how many years he’d known her. Or perhaps because of them.

But as Aaron stood in the parking lot of a department store, blatantly eavesdropping on the conversation, argument, happening two cars over, he couldn’t help but feel for her.

Bruce slamming the door of the car and peeling out of the spot, leaving the woman standing alone, crying now, brought Aaron back into the present.

He knew what the fight had been about without hearing all of the details because he _knew_. He knew that Strauss hadn’t given in to Agent Jacobs’ strong-arming for funding and access to Garcia. He knew, in part, because he was the attorney who looked out for her interests, as self-serving as others might think that was.

And he had heard, through Dave, about Bruce’s earlier visit from an Agent. Likely Agent Jacobs himself.  What Hotch had just witnessed seemed to confirm that. He’d deal with the irritating little man later, right now he had bigger issues to deal with.

Walking around the cars that had kept him from view, Aaron closed the distance. “Erin.”

She didn’t startle this time like she had in her office and he wondered if it was because she was that upset or if, somehow, she’d been aware of his presence. Either way, she didn’t speak as she turned toward him, hands coming up to her face as she began to crumble.

Hotch found himself surprised when she leaned into his chest, sobs starting up the moment they connected. Moving on instinct, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her as she purged the tears from her system. When she finally calmed, he stated more than asked. “He told Bruce.”

“Bruce is filing for divorce, said I shouldn’t be around the kids because I could hurt them. After everything I did to fix my life and now my family is gone!” She tried to pull away. “What a waste of effort!” When she couldn’t get free, she began to struggle “Let me go, Aaron!”

“Not yet.” He had an idea of what was going through her mind, he’d been down that road a time or two himself. “Getting sober wasn’t a wasted effort and they aren’t gone. Okay, Bruce files for divorce, but your children aren’t young, they can make their own choices. You have to show them that you won’t go right back to how you were before the moment something gets hard.” He had still had his arms wrapped around her in a prolonged hug as he spoke, now, he backed away. “I think we need to look up a meeting and go and then, after that, figure out what’s going to happen next.”

“We?” The implication surprised her. Why would he care? Surely this was just what he needed to get her out for good… But then, he hadn’t taken advantage when she’d gone to rehab. In fact, he and Agent Morgan had made sure her career had survived unscathed.

Aaron simply nodded, glancing at his watch. “We have time to make Beltway Clean Cops, I’ll drive. Do you think your sponsor could meet us there?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” She started searching through her purse for her phone.

“My car is just over here.” He gestured. “We’ll stop for coffee on the way. I thought cop coffee was bad, but it turns out clean cop coffee is the seventh circle of hell.”

Erin settled into the car, buckling her belt as he put it into gear. “I have to ask; how do you know about BCC and why do you have their schedule memorized?”

He frowned, thinking of all the times over the years he’d driven a different person to the same meeting he was about to take his boss to. “There was a time when I needed to know. I had made a mistake and it was my responsibility to fix it.”

 


End file.
